


Insomnia and Ice Cream

by predilection



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Ice Cream, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 22:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/predilection/pseuds/predilection
Summary: Nate's not the only one with this particular kind of insomnia.





	Insomnia and Ice Cream

**Author's Note:**

> Because after the ending of Uprising, Jake and Nate will both be grieving, and because while the two of them don't seem to be great at talking about their feelings, they truly seem to understand one another.

It takes three days for Nate to be released from the med bay. His discharge comes late at night, well into the third shift, because the medical staff are eager to clear as much of their overcrowded facilities as soon as they're able. 

He's given strict orders to immediately return to his quarters for bed rest, but he already knows he's not going to be able to sleep and he's pretty sure he's not the only one with this particular kind of insomnia. He goes to his quarters anyway, if only to confirm that they're still standing and to take a much needed shower.

So his hair is wet and he's in a fresh change of clothing when he finds Jake in the kitchen. Jake's sitting on the stainless steel countertop in front of the fridges and freezers, bowl of ice cream in one hand, and an ice cream scoop he's using as a spoon in the other. The industrial-sized carton of sprinkles is at his elbow and the sight is comfortingly familiar.

"Hey."

"Nate?" 

Nate isn't sure what he was expecting. Some joke, maybe. But not for Jake to put his ice cream down, hop off the counter, and close the space between them with long strides. 

"They released you?" Jake looks him over, almost critically. The nurses told him that Jake had visited after his surgery when he was still unconscious, but hearing and seeing Jake's concern is different. It makes it more real.

"Yeah," Nate says and swallows. "Can't sleep?"

Jake shakes his head and shuffles backwards. He plants his hands on the counter and props himself back up onto it. "Maybe I just wanted ice cream." He picks up his bowl, mock toasting it in Nate's direction.

Nate knows why Jake's here. They're not all that different and Nate is having trouble holding back his own grief. They lost a lot of people defeating the Kaiju and saving the world. Suresh. Secretary-General Mori. He hasn't had a chance to look over the complete casualty list for the Shatterdome yet, but he can already name too many friends and acquaintances who were killed. 

Nate walks past Jake to the freezer, picking up a spoon and bowl on the way. Jake raises an eyebrow at him as he pulls out an already-open carton of vanilla ice cream and scoops out a healthy amount of it into the bowl. 

"You don't even like ice cream."

"I don't like raiding food stores that are meant to be divided fairly between a whole base," Nate points out.

"Oh?" Jake sounds amused. "Then what are you doing right now?"

Nate ignores him and heads towards a wall of cabinets at the side of the room, pausing at the third one from the right. He's aware of Jake's eyes on him as he opens it, reaching back behind boxes of pancake mix to pull out a bottle of chocolate syrup.

"Hey!" Jake says the moment he realizes what Nate's pouring over his own ice cream. "You've been holding out on me!"

Nate rolls his eyes, but he takes the chocolate syrup with him when he walks back to the counter Jake's claimed as his own.

"Scoot over," he says. In response, Jake makes a grabby-handed gesture towards the syrup. Nate hands it over and Jake immediately shifts sideways and moves the sprinkles, leaving room for Nate.

Nate pushes himself up next to Jake and starts eating his ice cream, only pausing to side-eye Jake and the awkward squirting noises the syrup bottle is making in his hands. "Do you have to make that much noise?"

Jake sighs theatrically. "Unlike someone, I haven't had access to chocolate syrup in ages." Then he grins at Nate and playfully jostles his shoulder.

Nate can't help but smile back at him.

Even though he never actually ate ice cream with Jake any of the many times they found themselves in the kitchen previously, there's a friendly quality to what they're doing that feels like what they were like before. Before Jake left without saying goodbye. Before Nate was left picking up the pieces of the future he thought he had. So it's easy for Nate to understand the comfort they're both trying to offer each other, even if they're not talking about any of the elephants in the room. 

The grief is fresh and raw and there, and he knows they'll both have to face it later, but for now the ice cream is sweet and Jake is smiling at him, and that's more than enough.


End file.
